Page 21 of Riding the Tide

“Yes, it was something out of a horror movie. He was in pain.” That was putting it rather simply. There was no blood involved, and he still wasn’t sure how that could be. When something tore in half… Well. There was usually blood.

“Yes. It’s painful, but the pain doesn’t last long. At least that’s what I understand.”

“Okay, again… how do you know all this?”

Brett sighed. “I’m mated to a mer, and when I say mated I’m not talking about being buddies. She’s my everything, and I love her. I’d do anything for her, including becoming what I am now. Mating is a soul deep commitment and… I don’t have words to explain how important she is to me. We’ve been together for several years now, and her name is Brooke. She is also legally my wife.”

“I see.” He did. He was beginning to see a lot of things. They continued slowly walking until finally Blair spoke again. “And your best friend?”

“Kannon is mated to Brooke’s brother. His name is Nisha. They’ve been mated for a year.”

“And how does Marcus fit into this?” Blair asked.

“The easiest way to explain it is to say Marcus is like a security guard. And yes, males stake out territory. The more powerful the merman, the bigger region he has. Nisha’s is the entire island.”

“Females don’t have territories?”

“None that I know of. Now, what goes on elsewhere in the world, I have no idea.”

“Wow. In the world. That’s…”

“Scary?”

“I was going to say unbelievably fantastic.”

“It is. It really is.”

“It sounds as if they might follow the same principles as wolves.” Now wasn’t that interesting? “Is Nisha the Alpha? Do they have betas and so on and so forth? Omegas?”

“No. There are no titles. Nisha isn’t called Alpha. He’s just… Nisha. He’s the dominant male. Nisha allows certain males in his area, that’s true, but those males are not as powerful as him. Or else those males haven’t struck out on their own yet. Some are mated too and don’t want the responsibility of maintaining a region.”

“Fascinating.”

“I’m not really sure why Marcus is still in Nisha’s territory, outside the fact they’re very good friends. A course, now that he’s found you, his mate, that may change.”

Brett’s heart stuttered then launched into a hard, pounding beat. Mate. Brett called him mate. Holy shit. After listening to the explanation of what a mate was, his heart tried to crawl out of his throat. Shit.Shit. Wasn’t it funny Marcus neglected to tell him that last night?

“Anyway, back to tonight. Marcus doesn’t spend a lot of time on land, so he went to Kannon and Nisha for help on your date. He really wants to do something special for you. Kannon called me, so I reserved you two a special spot at the restaurant.”

“I see. That’s very sweet, thank you.”

“Sweet?” Brett came to a stop. “I want to make something perfectly clear. I’m not sweet. I’m very protective about these guys. I consider them my family.”

“I… okay.” Blair held up his hands palms out in the universal sign for “hold up” or “calm down.” “Sorry. I didn’t mean to sound insulting.”

“You didn’t,” Brett huffed. “I didn’t mean to come off as overbearing, but you’re handling this remarkably well. Too well. I freaked out, and so did Kannon.”

“I’m neither you nor your friend,” Blair pointed out.

“I understand, but I still say you’re handling this too calmly.”

“Would it make you feel better if I ran around, waving my hands in the air, and screaming bloody murder? Sorry. I got all that out of my system in Africa. While I find Marcus fascinating and attractive, he’s done nothing to scare me.”

“He wouldn’t. Of course he wouldn’t. You are his mate.”

Blair’s heart thudded hard once more. “Yes, well, that jaguar shifter… he, he… I hate to call him animalistic, but it describes him, and not because he changed into and out of an animal. He was primitive, but I don’t mean in the sense of being uncivilized. He was a predator and wasn’t nearly as considerate as Marcus has been to me.”

“Don’t fool yourself; Marcus is a predator, too. They all are. But he’d never hurt you.”

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